Doorknob shroud

ABSTRACT

A DOORKNOB SHROUD TO BE MOUNTED ON A DOORKNOB TO BLOCK UNATHORIZED ACESS TO A KEYHOLE. THE SHROUD INCLUDES A HOUSING FORMED WITH A BACK WALL HAVING A SIDE OPENING SLOT THEREIN FOR RECEIPT OF THE DOORKNOB SHANK. THE HOUSING FURTHER INCLUDES A BLOCKING PORTION PROJECTING OVER THE KEYHOLE TO BLOCK ACESS THERETO. A RETAINER IS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TO THE HOUSING FOR BEING PIVOTED TO A RETAINING POSITION PROJECTING ACROSS THE OPEN END OF THE SLOT. LOCKING MEANS IS PROVIDED FOR LOCKING THE RETAINER IN ITS RETAINING POSITION WHEREBY SUCH RETAINER MAY BE OPENED, THE HOUSING MOUNTED ON A DOORKNOB BY PASSING THE DOORKNOB SHANK IN THROUGH THE OPEN END OF THE SLOT, THE RETAINER CLOSED AND LOCKED IN POSITION TO MAINTAIN THE BLOCKING PORTION DISPOSED IN BLOCKING POSITION OVER THE KEYHOLE.

Nov. 30, 1971 cum-m 3,623,346

DOORKNOB SHROUD J Filed June 8, 1970 INVIiN'H m. Jb8PH 6'01? T'IN UnitedStates Patent Office 3,623,346 DOORKNOB SHROUD Joseph Curtin, 1969Orange Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92627 Filed June 8, 1970, Ser. No.44,366 Int. Cl. Eb 17/14 US. Cl. 70-424 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A doorknob shroud to be mounted on a doorknob to blockunauthorized access to a keyhole. The shroud includes a housing formedwith a back wall having a side opening slot therein for receipt of thedoorknob shank. The housing further includes a blocking portionprojecting over the keyhole to block access thereto. A retainer ispivotally mounted to the housing for being pivoted to a retainingposition projecting across the open end of the slot. Locking means isprovided for locking the retainer in its retaining position whereby suchretainer may be opened, the housing mounted on a doorknob by passing thedoorknob shank in through the open end of the slot, the retainer closedand locked in position to maintain the blocking portion disposed inblocking position over the keyhole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The doorknob shroudof present invention relates to devices for blocking access to keyholesand the like.

Description of the prior art Keyhole obstructing devices have beenproposed which include clam shell halves which are hingedly connectedtogether and may be clamped over the doorknob to block access to anadjacently located keyhole. A device of this type is shown in US. PatentNo. 1,439,552. Since devices of this type must be relatively sturdy, aclam shell design of this type is relatively expensive to manufacture.Other prior art keyhole obstructing devices are shown in US. Patent Nos.2,134,922, 2,883,850, 3,167,945, and 2,343,- 387.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The doorknob shroud of present invention ischaracterized by a housing having a back wall formed with a side openingnotch and including a blocking portion for being disposed over thekeyhole when such housing is mounted on a doorknob. A retainer ispivotally mounted to the housing for being rotated into positionprojecting across the open end of the slot and locked whereby thehousing may be mounted on the doorknob with the doorknob shaft receivedin the slot and the retainer pivoted to its closed position and lockedto retain such shroud on the doorknob with the keyhole blocking portionprojecting over the keyhole.

An object of the present invention is to provide a doorknob shroud ofthe type described which is relatively sturdy in construction tosecurely block access to a keyhole.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a doorknob shroudof the type described which is relatively economical to manufacture andis convenient to use.

3,623,346 Patented Nov. 30, 1971 These and other objects and theadvantages of the present invention will become apparent from aconsideration of the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of adoorknob. shroud embodying the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the left end of the doorknob shroudshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The doorknob shroud of presentinvention includes a housing, generally designated 11, which has itsback wall 13 formed with a side opening slot 15 for receiving the shank17 of a doorknob. A retainer, generally designated 21, is mounted fromthe housing 11 by means of a pivot pin 23 whereby such retainer may beopened to the position shown in FIG. 1 and the housing 11 inserted overthe doorknob 16 and the retainer pivoted upwardly into the retainingposition shown in FIG. 2 and locked by padlock 24 to positively blockaccess to the keyhole 25 disposed centrally in the doorknob.

The housing 11 may be made of metal or a tough plastic or any otherdesirable material and is preferably formed from a single sheet byproviding an upstanding back wall 13 which is turned outwardly anddownwardly to form a turned back loop 27 at the its upper extremity anda downwardly projecting front wall 29. It is noted that in theembodiment shown, the front wall 29 serves to block access to thekeyhole 25. The lower portion of the front wall 29 is turned inwardly at31 and then turns downwardly to terminate in a downwardly extendingflange 33 projecting parallel to the lower extremity of the back wall13.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, a spacer in the form of a short, smalldiameter pipe 37 is interposed behind the front flange 33 and theretainer 21 is sandwiched between such spacer and the back wall 13. Theback wall 13 and the flange 33 are formed with respective aligned bores41 and 43. The pivot rivet 23 projects through such bores 41 and 43 andalso through the spacer 37 and a bore 44 formed at one side of theretainer 21.

The retainer is somewhat triangularly shaped and is formed on its topextremity with a hook portion 47 which hooks back over the doorknobshank 17. The front side of the hook portion 47 is formed with a bevel51 around its arcuate portion for accommodating the curved rear portionof the doorknob 15.

Referring to FIG. 1, the back wall 13 and front flange 33 are formed intheir ends opposite the pivot rivet 23 with aligned bores 55 and 57 andthe retainer 21 includes a bore 59 registerable therewith when theretainer is in its closed position for receipt of the bale of thepadlock.

In operation, the doorknob shroud of present invention may be mounted ona doorknob by merely pivoting the retainer 21 to the open position shownin FIG. 1 and sliding the housing 11 sideways onto the doorknob with theshank 17 received in the slot 15. The retainer 21 may then be pivoted toits closed position shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 and the bale of the padlock24 inserted through the bores 55, 57 and 59 to hold the retainer inposition projecting across the open end of the slot 15. Thus, thehousing 11 will be held captive on the doorknob to block access to theaxially located keyhole 25.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be ap parent that thedoorknob shroud of present invention provides a convenient means forblocking access to a locked keyhole to prevent entry by an unauthorizedperson who may have a key capable of operating such lock. Such doorknobshroud is economical to manufacture and provides secure blocking ofaccess to the keyhole.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to theforegoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A doorknob shroud for blocking access to a keyway disposed adjacent adoorknob carried from a reducedin-cross-section shank said shroudcomprising:

a housing including a vertical back wall for projecting behind thedoorknob and formed with a slot opening to one side of said housing forreceipt of the shank of said doorknob, said housing being turnedforwardly at the top end of said back wall to project outwardly acrossthe top of said doorknob and then being turned downwardly to project infront of said doorknob to form a front wall, said housing being open onsaid one side for receipt of said doorknob from said one side andincluding a blocking portion projecting in front of said keyway to blockaccess thereto;

a retainer pivotally mounted on one extremity from said back Wall forbeing pivoted into retaining position projecting across the open end ofsaid slot; and

locking means engageable with said housing and retainer to lock saidretainer in its retaining position whereby said retainer may be unlockedand opened,

said housing slid onto said doorknob from said open side with said shankreceived in said slot and said retainer closed and locked in itsretaining position to hold said shroud captive on said knob with saidblocking portion blocking access to said keyway.

2. A doorknob shroud as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said housing includes a first aperture in said one side thereof; and

said retainer is pivotally mounted at the side of said housing oppositesaid one side and includes an aperture aligned with said first aperturewhen said retainer is in its retaining position to receive the bale of apadlock.

3. A doorknob shroud as set forth in claim 1 that includes: a fastenersecuring the bottom ends of said walls together and pivotally securingsaid retainer to said housmg.

4. A doorknob shroud as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said front wall isturned rearwardly on its lower extremity to project rearwardly undersaid doorknob and then turns downwardly to project parallel to said backwall.

5. A doorknob shroud as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said keyway is formed centrally in said doorknob; and

said blocking portion is formed centrally in said front wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,329,913 2/1920 McGuire -2121,439,552 12/1922 Johnson 70-428 3,210,972 10/1965 Johnson 702l13,245,240 4/1966 De Forrest 70209 3,343,387 9/1967 Cochran 70424 ROBERTL. WOLFE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XrR.

